Wyn Drabble: The entire world is a stage

Wyn Drabble enjoys performing on our central city performance platforms. Photo / File

One of my passions is playing music to people.

Thanks to our council, I have the opportunity to do this from time to time on a central city performance platform which gives me a perfect opportunity to observe people's reactions, to see just how varied and interesting they are.

Though some people do sit down on the grassed area and listen for a while, the gig is not so much a concert as providing some musical ambience to people's shopping experience.

For the performer it is an opportunity to view the passing pageant of people living their lives. And what a rich pageant it is!

Wyn Drabble

Dylan Thomas could have written Under Milk Wood from this position.

There are those wearing headphones so they are already in their own musical world and won't even give a sideways glance.

And there are those who walk past looking perfectly normal until, without warning, they emit great clouds of smoke. The strange sight of these ambulatory volcanoes makes me thankful that I'm old enough to have missed the vaping trend.

A man might sit on a bench for half an hour or so and appear emotionless but then, when he gets up to leave and continue with his life, he offers solo applause in your direction. Appreciated.

Or a woman might stand to the side of the stage clearly taking in every word you sing. Then she will simply melt away into the fabric that is society. Appreciated.

Often, young kids will rush up excitedly with a gold coin extracted from their parents. The excitement quickly turns to puzzlement when they can't find a vessel in which to deposit their contribution. Between songs I try to explain to the parents that I'm not busking.

Some young ones are clearly disappointed so just leave their coin on the front of the stage anyway.

An unusual request came from a woman asking me to sing a particular song again so she could film it on her phone. I had to – I hope politely – turn it down.

On another occasion a man requested to take my place and sing a song. I gently deterred him on the grounds that the council had employed me to play so I could hardly let someone else do the work.

There has been a stage invasion. The culprit – a child of about 10 – jumped up onto the stage and tried to gain access to the microphone. He took off again very quickly, something he looked well practised at.

Not practised enough, however, to escape the long arm of the law. From my lofty viewing position, I later observed him being escorted to a police car by two members of the ploddery. Judging from the reactions of others, it was for shoplifting.

Last Saturday had two highlights. The first was when I arrived to set up. Had I got the booking wrong? A woman was already on the stage and dancing – and not badly at that – to the music coming through her headphones.

When she saw me unloading my gear, she wordlessly took off on her bicycle. As I was packing up the gear at the end of my tenure she reappeared for a brief reprise.

The second involved two boys of about 14. It surprised me that they were interested in my music but, after parking their bikes, they listened intently to about five songs. But their highlight was when a woman on a walking frame came and stood in front of the stage and started jiggling to the music.

That made their day and mine.

All the world's indeed a stage and it seems there's no better place to view it from than a stage.

- Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, a writer, musician and public speaker.